by Irene Nemirovsky is a fantastic read, even if you don't know the background.Several characters' stories intertwine and overlap. Each is told from its main characters perspective but you then get that characters insight into other characters, all touching and influencing each other. The Germans are invading Paris and people are evacuating. How they behave during (and after) the invasion shows you their values and character quite clearly: the bank manager who fires those who were unable to get to another town after he took gave their promised seats in his car to his lover and her dog and they couldn't get on the full train; the man who steals gas from a young couple after promising to watch their car; the priest shepherding orphans away who really doesn't like them much.
There is a true tragedy behind the tragic stories however. Irene Nemirovsky was writing this suite of stories while the Germans were actually invading. She and her husband died in Auschwitz in 1942. Her daughters discovered that the notebooks they'd saved had this novel and it was published 60 years later.
